These are extraordinary times, and for a passionate progressive like myself, it’s hard to look away from the Basket of Deplorables being assembled to run the country’s executive branch.

But for today we need to discuss something both local and deplorable. Another hair-brained idea to build a downtown stadium for the San Diego Chargers is making the rounds, coming out of a Wednesday sit-down between Mayor Kevin Faulconer and team owners Dean Spanos.

After getting his ass handed to him at the ballot box in 2016 (56% voted No on a stadium measure requiring two-thirds approval), Spanos is counting on a future court ruling lowering the threshold to a simple majority, and on Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s desire to have the Los Angeles market all to himself.

They Just Increase Amount of Poison We’re Exposed To

The controversy over genetically modified crops has focused on whether or not they were safe to eat. We have to ask ourselves what was the purpose for genetically modifying them in the first place.

That was so they could be sprayed with Monsanto’s Roundup and they wouldn’t die. Only the weeds would die. But this leaves the crops, mainly corn and soybeans, with a nice coating of poison. It won’t kill them, but it might kill you.

The next promise of the chemical corporations was that the use of GMO sprayed with weed killers would lead to a significant increase in crop yields, but that hasn’t happened either.

It’s been nearly two years since the disappearance of Elizabeth Sullivan, a young Navy wife from Point Loma. There was quite an extensive search for her by both authorities and family.

The search came to a final and tragic end on October 6th this year, when her body was found in Bay waters off the 2600 block of Farragut Road. Police announced today – Dec. 7th – that her identity has been confirmed. Police have re-opened their investigation of Sullivan.

Elizabeth Sullivan was a 31-year-old Navy wife and mother of two young girls – and much more.

World War II Vets Would Not Have Stood for President-Elect

Remembering this December 7th – Pearl Harbor Day – has special significance for us today in this new Era of Trump. The 75th anniversary of the attack by Japanese forces on US air and naval power in Hawaii in late 1941 finds few surviving members still with us. And our collective memory of “the day of infamy” – as President Franklin Roosevelt declared it the next day before Congress – which pushed the country into World War II – has all but faded.

But yes, we need to remember this day – and all that it represents – all the contradictions of that historic moment and context. And all the parallels from that day to ours today.

Some of the murals have been in San Diego and some have been abroad. PangeaSeed mural projects aim to raise awareness about different issues effecting our oceans. As an artist for PangeaSeed she has traveled to Sri Lanka, Vietnam, New Zealand, and several cities in Mexico.

Here – without commentary – are the wonderful photos of the OB Holiday Parade taken through the lens of ACE – Albert C Elliott. Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the OB Pier – “50 Years of Cheer With the OB Pier” –

They’re not in any particular order – although one can certainly discern ACE’s preferences – surfing themes and old woodies and VWs.

The numbers are in. California is conserving less water than it needs to. San Diego is doing even worse.

California conserved less water this year than last year. In October 2015, California conserved 22.5 percent more than 2013. This year, California only conserved 19.5 percent.

In October 2016, San Diego County conserved 12 percent more water than in 2013 — is this good? Not really. In October 2015 we conserved 22 percent more water than 2013. We can — and need — to do better.

All local water agencies in San Diego County used more water this October than they did last October.

At the top of the agenda is a presentation by Jeremy Barrack, the City of San Diego Urban Forestry Program Manager, on the program itself, with an update of the Conserve-A-Tree nominations and a response to questions raised by OBceans in October.

How and where we get information informing our outlook on the world has become an issue in the wake of the most recent presidential election. People’s lives, reputations and even democracy itself can be endangered.

A cottage industry, some of which masks bigger players with malevolent agendas, is taking advantage of opportunities afforded by social media to mold public opinion.

Last week in the bluntly titled “Trump Presidency Could Kill Labor Unions,” distinguished journalist Harold Meyerson ponders the possibility that the 2016 Presidential election was “an extinction-level event for American labor.”

Noting the sad fact that a high percentage of union households (about 43 percent nationally) went for Trump, Meyerson wastes no time in outlining what the costs will be for working class folks in America:

Now, Trump, the Republican Congress, and the soon-to-be Republican-dominated Supreme Court are poised to damage unions—and the interests of working people, both union and not—even more. Indeed, within the GOP, the war on unions engenders almost no dissent.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Statement on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Decision to Not Grant Easement

Cannon Ball, N.D.— The department of the Army will not approve an easement that will allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe. The following statement was released by Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II.

“Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. Instead, the Corps will be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes. We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and all of Indian Country will be forever grateful to the Obama Administration for this historic decision.

There was a hate crime committed in Liberty Station last weekend – Saturday morning, Nov. 26th. It happened at the New Americans Museum when someone vandalized two of the museum’s signs out in a public hallway with anti-immigration slurs written in black marker. It occurred during the day while the museum was open. “Go back to your country,” was part of the hate message – the rest was so bad that the media didn’t disclose it. It has now been removed.

San Diego Police have begun an investigation and the FBI were notified. Staff at the museum are re-thinking their surveillance systems, as currently they’re only in the galleries area. Executive Director Linda Sotelo, told local NBC :

Just about two weeks ago, the OB Rag began our Fall fund-raising campaign. Our goal: $2,000 – we knew it was a lot to shoot for, but … hey … a goal is a goal, right? Well, OB came through – our friends, readers and supporters – all sent us a hearty thanks with their […]

One in 5 Say They’re Joining the Underground Resistance

The OB Rag ran a poll for over a week recently, querying readers with What Are You Going to Do Now that Trump is President-Elect? The poll was similar to one we ran before the election in mid-September asking the same basic question. In this poll, one hundred eleven readers responded. As we all are aware by now that our country and city are divided on Mr. Trump, the poll results reflected those divisions.

His Supporters Have Been Snookered!

By John Lawrence

In a 60 Minutes interview with Leslie Stahl, Trump back pedaled on his major campaign promises and a lot else. When asked what his sit-down with President Obama was like he replied,

“I found him [President Obama] to be terrific. I found him to be– very smart and very nice.Great sense of humor, as much as you can have a sense of humor talking about tough subjects, but we were talking about some pretty tough subjects.”

So no more questions about his legitimacy to be President? No more wondering whether he was born in Kenya? I guess not now that he, Trump, is a member of the club.

The Ocean Beach Town Council facilitates several local community events during the holiday season: the OB Holiday Parade; the OB Holiday Tree at the foot of Newport Avenue; the OB Holiday Craft Fairs; Restaurant Walk (with OBMA), the OB Holiday Auction, and the OB Food and Toy Drive.

The 37th Annual OB Holiday Parade will take place on Saturday, December 3rd, 2016 at 5:05pm (OB time), and it will feature over 100 entries celebrating Ocean Beach’s unique vibe.

This year’s theme is “The Year of the Pier with Holiday Cheer – Celebrating 50 Years!”

The OB Town Council is one of the principle sponsors of the parade. Here is what they say on their website:

For over 30 years, our quaint little surfing village of Ocean Beach has hosted one of the best Holiday Parades in SoCal. On Saturday, December 3rd, Newport Avenue is lined with colorful OBceans and visitors all eagerly awaiting the big event to commence at 5:05pm.

A Hacker’s Wet Dream

By John Lawrence

Hackers are licking their chops over the latest push by high tech corporations including San Diego’s Qualcomm to create an Internet of Things in which everything is hooked up to the internet: your refrigerator, your thermostat, your security system, your car.

It will be a hacker’s paradise. Already hackers have carried out a distributed denial of service (DDoS) taking Netflix, Twitter, Paypal and other major websites off the air. Hackers were able to direct an overwhelming amount of traffic to a company by the name of Dyn which acts as a switching hub for internet traffic.

Based on the say-so of a conspiracy-mongering website that claims 9/11 was an inside job and the killing of children at Sandy Hook elementary school was staged with actors, the President-elect of the United States now says there were millions of illegal votes cast in the 2016 general election.

Donald Trump didn’t make this claim at a press conference flanked by attorneys ready to force states to throw out those votes; he made it on Twitter. And he didn’t make this claim based on any actual evidence at all.

He followed up this initial lie by naming California (along with New Hampshire and Virginia) as states with serious voter fraud. Again, the claim was made without evidence.

Editor: The following is an opinion piece by the Rev. Richard Lawrence, a retired civil rights leader and an affordable housing advocate. It was first posted atSan Diego Free Press

By Rev. Richard Lawrence

It is a huge mistake for the Union Tribune to throw rocks at the glass house in Sacramento, as it has recently done, while ignoring our local shrine of good government.

Somehow, the City of San Diego was able to dissolve the “State of Emergency due to a Severe Shortage of Affordable Housing” without having taken any substantial actions of any kind—most specifically ignoring the Affordable Housing Task Force (AHTF) Report of 2003.

Update: the Clinton Campaign Has Now Joined Stein’s Efforts

“We deserve elections we can trust,” Stein said.

Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein on Wednesday – Nov. 23rd – called for a ballot recount in Wisconsin, Michigan, and and Pennsylvania, and apparently took less than a day to raise more than her campaign’s initial goal of $2 million.

“After a divisive and painful presidential race, in which foreign agents hacked into party databases, private email servers, and voter databases in certain states, many Americans are wondering if our election results are reliable,” Stein said in a statement. “That’s why the unexpected results of the election and reported anomalies need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified. We deserve elections we can trust.”

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